- Hardcover: 230 pages
- Publisher: Columbia University Press; 1st Edition edition (15 April 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0231124163
- ISBN-13: 978-0231124164
- Product Dimensions: 21.8 x 14.5 x 1 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 875,015 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
French Gastronomy
and over 900,000 other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| |||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Trade in French Gastronomy: The History and Geography of a Passion (Arts & Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary History) for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
Will satisfy your hunger for knowledge while whetting your appetite for French food. France Today [Pitte's] charming, concise history reveals the development of the national taste... Pitte balances his hearty dishes with historical realities in this entertaining and probing addition to Columbia's Arts and Traditions of the Table series. Publishers Weekly Pitte's remarkable ruminations... offer new insights into the French psyche. Booklist To study the gastronomy of France, or any country's gastronomy, through the geographer's palate and eyes, makes perfect sense. Topography and climatic conditions, more than any other factors, define the lifestyle of people as well as their mood and eating habits. Furthermore, it's these differences in soils and climate which give us the Basque piperade, the potee of Savoy, the quenelles of Lyon, the filet of sole Normande, and the beckenoffe of Alsace. Vive la difference! -- Jacques Pepin Thought-provoking and original table talk from the academy. Kirkus Reviews Lively... leavened with humor and graceful translation. Bloomsbury Review Interesting, witty, and erudite. Rain Taxi
Product Description
This we can be sure of: when a restaurant in the western world is famous for its cooking, it is the tricolor flag that hangs above the stove, opined one French magazine, and this is by no means an isolated example of such crowing. Indeed, both linguistically and conceptually, the restaurant itself is a French creation. Why are the French recognized by themselves and others the world over as the most enlightened of eaters, as the great gourmets? Why did the passion for food -- gastronomy -- originate in France? In French Gastronomy, geographer and food lover Jean-Robert Pitte uncovers a novel answer. The key, it turns out, is France herself. In her climate, diversity of soils, abundant resources, and varied topography lie the roots of France's food fame. Pitte masterfully reveals the ways in which cultural phenomena surrounding food and eating in France relate to space and place. He points out that France has some six hundred regions, or microclimates, that allow different agricultures, to flourish, and fully navigable river systems leading from peripheral farmlands directly to markets in the great gastronomic centers of Paris and Lyon. With an eye to this landscape, Pitte wonders: Would the great French burgundies enjoy such prestige if the coast they came from were not situated close to the ancient capital for the dukes and a major travel route for medieval Europe? Yet for all the shaping influence of earth and climate, Pitte demonstrates that haute cuisine, like so much that is great about France, can be traced back to the court of Louis XIV. It was the Sun King's regal gourmandise -- he enacted a nightly theater of eating, dining alone but in full view of the court -- that made food and fine dining a central affair of state. The Catholic Church figures prominently as well: gluttony was regarded as a "benign sin" in France, and eating well was associated with praising God, fraternal conviviality, and a respect for the body. These cultural ingredients, in combination with the bounties of the land, contributed to the full flowering of French foodways. This is a time of paradox for French gourmandism. Never has there been so much literature published on the subject of culinary creativity, never has there been so much talk about good food, and never has so little cooking been done at home. Each day new fast-food places open. Will French cuisine lose its charm and its soul? Will discourse become a substitute for reality? French Gastronomy is a delightful celebration of what makes France unique, and a call to everyone who loves French food to rediscover its full flavor.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
WHEN WINE GROWERS, oenologists, scientists, or simple wine lovers try to understand why France produces good wines, they often look forward the soil or the sky. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
WHEN WINE GROWERS, oenologists, scientists, or simple wine lovers try to understand why France produces good wines, they often look forward the soil or the sky. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon U.K.
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
5.0 out of 5 stars
French Gastronomy, 13 Jan 2012
By Constancio Castro - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: French Gastronomy: The History and Geography of a Passion (Arts & Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary History) (Hardcover)
I got an extensive description of the original publication in french. I ordered this english version because the original was outdated
5 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The history and geography of a passion for French cooking, 12 July 2002
By Midwest Book Review - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: French Gastronomy: The History and Geography of a Passion (Arts & Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary History) (Hardcover)
Plenty of books have been written on French cuisine and history; but JeanRobert Pitte's French Gastronomy is different. It is about the study of French cuisine: the history and geography of a passion for French cooking. Individual chapters link the mystique of food and eating in France to a sense of place and microregions that allow for different agricultural results. French Gastronomy is an intriguing history and very highly recommended for avid French popular culture and culinary enthusiasts.
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
